Reviews and other things...
Jul. 1st, 2022 06:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatRented The Kid Stays in the Picture - this is a documentary of Robert Evans life, developed by Evans, and narrated by Robert Evans. Evans was a Hollywood movie producer, president of Paramount Pictures, and a movie actor. He was behind some of the biggest, and critically acclaimed films of the 1970s.
The documentary starts with:
“There are three sides to every story: your side, my side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each differently.”—Robert Evans, The Kid Stays in the Picture
[I disagree on one point. Everyone is lying. Memories lie. People lie. Often without realizing it. And mostly to themselves.]
Takeaways?
* Weirdly, he doesn't mention Al Ruddy or Ruddy's assistant at all (even though they were reportedly friends for a bit in the 1970s). (I think they had a falling out - when Ruddy left to do his own movies.) As if they didn't exist, nor does he mention any of the producers of the movies under him at Paramount. In Evans version of The Godfather production, Bergman came up with the idea, pushed for Coppola, and worked on it with Evans. (I found this odd - so looked it up and discovered that Ruddy's take on what happened is not exactly the same as everyone else's. [Also Rolling Stone Hated the Offer, which is Ruddy's take on The Godfather and was produced by Al Ruddy.]
What to Watch Does a Run-Down of Fact vs. Fiction.
Mathew Good actually kind of nails Evans in The Offer. I like Good's Evans better than the real Evans. The real Evans was a narcissist. And a sexist womanizer.
At the end of the film, I didn't like Evans that much, while I sort of liked him in The Offer. Also the film is kind of "self-congratulatory" and not in a good way. It is well-done however - with a lot of archival footage of Evans (interviews, filmed segments, and pictures). Also we get tours of his house - with no one in it. (I want that garden and pool house, that's all I want. He apparently was a tenant in the pool house for a bit because he lost everything - when he got addicted to cocaine in the late 1980s. Jack Nicholson got his house back - by flying off to Monte Carlo to beg the French Industrialist who owned it - to sell it back to him. His best friends were Nicholson (China Town), and Dustin Hoffman (Marathon Man). Both films were produced by Evans. He had a lot clout in Hollywood.
He redeemed himself and his career post-drug rehab (which he escaped from) by producing a bunch of after-school specials in the 1980s on NBC entitled "Get High on Yourself" - with lots of stars. (I don't remember these - but I was in college at that time. In college - I watched whatever folks in the dorms watched, which consisted of 1) Star Trek Next Generation, 2) Star Trek, 3)Days of Our Lives, 4) Lonesome Dove Mini-series, 5) Jeopardy (we had someone actually get on it and primed her for it. She was my lounge buddy - we would analyze television shows together). )
He lost Ali McGraw to Steve McQueen because he was too involved in his work (Actually, I think he was too self-involved, and well, Steve McQueen.) He comments on how it hurt to lose her to the biggest movie star in the world.
I'd feel sorry for Ali - except I never understood the appeal of Ali McGraw. I don't find her attractive or interesting as an actress - and I may be among the few people on the planet who could not make it through Love Story (it annoyed me, actually I think it annoyed my mother too). Mother used to make fun of the line "Love means never having to say you're sorry" - our love of soap operas has somehow instilled an allergic reaction to fake sentimentality.
Overall, not a bad movie. I'd say it was entertaining in the same manner that The Offer was, and interesting in contrast to it.
Currently watching Julia - the documentary film about Julia Child, that was produced by Ron Howard. It's a fascinating film, and the series Julia clearly took some liberties with the story - and is a fictionalized account in some respects. Since, her friend, played by Bebe Neuwurth in the series isn't mentioned at all in the documentary, and her producer, Ruth Lockwood was a white woman not a Black woman as portrayed in the series.
Child was a complicated person and one of her time, in that she did think women were to get married and take care of the home to a certain extent, and couldn't imagine anything else. But, she had a huge effect on the feminist movement - because she also felt strongly about supporting planned parenthood, and women could have careers and take care of the home.
"She is really a tomorrow person. We don't care about yesterday." And was strongly "pro-choice", and felt it was important for woman to determine their own lives. And pushed for women to be able to chefs and have careers.
Julia also had breast cancer and had her breast removed.
Julia: How can you look at me or find me attractive without my breast?
Paul: I married you for your legs not your breasts.
[Sigh, I need to find a guy like that. They say you meet your life mate when by the time you are 25? (I saw that as a reality show ad on streaming, can't remember where - where they bring back people you knew at that age and set up match making. And I thought...let's see: 1) dead (cancer), 2) married, 3) gay. I'm out of luck.)]
Julia was an incorrigible flirt. (I've never figured out how to flirt.) Julia liked men the best.
But also...she was unable to acknowledge homosexuality. She came from a world where it wasn't acknowledged or acceptable. And called homosexuals the dergatory term - homos. But when her best friend and attorney, who was gay, died of AIDS, Julia did a 180. She worked hard to help, and used her love of cooking to help the AIDS movement and support them.
Julia Child was constantly changing, and learning from her mistakes. She's wasn't rigid. And the documentary details her life from beginning to end, she died at 91, still doing cooking shows and cook books. Her husband died a good twenty years before her - and of dementia. (Reminding me of my father.)
It's hard not to adore her. She was just lovely.
The documentary does a lovely job of characterizing her life, and depicting it - through interviews and archival footage. I don't however feel it is quite fair to compare Julia to others lives, or even my own mother. We are all so different and unique in our journeys. While we can learn from others journeys, we also, I think need to realize those journeys are theirs and not our own and not meant to be.
Currently streaming on HBO Max - recommended. It's part cooking demonstration show, biography, and history. Utilizing archives, film, television footage, recreations of food preparations, interview footage, and letters.
***
Apparently I was in a documentary mood today.
My back, neck and shoulder are bothering me. Have ice and heat on them. I think I may need to do other things this weekend, and spend less time on my phone and computer.
***
Mother informed me that my niece shipped a box of her clothes and other personal items home, but somehow it didn't have enough postage on it and the British Post sent it back to her dorm. The dorm rejected it - because she'd left and wasn't there any longer, and as a result it appears to be missing.
I was furious on her behalf. Whomever rejected her package at the dorm, as opposed to taking the time to forward it to her, or contact her, deserves to lose their clothing in a moth infestation or some karmic consequence.
God, people often take the easy path, or thoughtless one, as opposed to the kind one.
I wish I could help. It's hard to love a child from a far. But alas, I do.
[Please no advice.]
In regards to the great moth infestation? They appear to have gotten through the worst of it. Apparently my brother discovered it vacuuming under his couch upstairs. They like the dark and hide. When he vacuumed under it - he disturbed them. And got a nasty surprise. He thinks they probably caught it in time - since there isn't that much damage. Niece took her clothing outside and searched through it - to determine what was salvageable. She had her camera equipment and computer stuff in luggage and got that home with her, and brought her winter clothes home in April, so the clothing that is missing is the Spring attire. It may not be that bad, also she may not have that many clothes damaged by the moths.
They got rid of one old rug. But the couches appear to be fine - they've steam cleaned them. And the moths never made it all the way downstairs to my brother's room at least. They've also re-arranged some furniture and things.
And my father is ill again - we think its another UTI, since he tested negative for COVID. He was running a fever, and not feeling well. So mother didn't see him today. He'd been slightly more lucid yesterday, but talking nonsense.
Neither mother nor I can watch or read anything about dementia at the moment. The Old Man - the Jeff Bridges/Jon Lithgow series on Hulu - Mother tried and abruptly gave up on, because it dealt with Alzheimers as a main plot point - too triggering.
***
Today was a warm day but not insufferable. I went out briefly to get veggies, fruit, and eggs. Then picked up some ice cream from Carvel. It's an old school fresh hand churned ice cream shop. Run by a Korean family.
I got a Cold Brew Coffee Ice Cream Milkshake, and a small pint of vanilla ice cream which I put in the freezer for tomorrow and possibly monday.
If anyone can figure out a cure for hot flashes and sweats, let me know.
**
Picture of Florence that my niece previously sent to me...
The documentary starts with:
“There are three sides to every story: your side, my side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each differently.”—Robert Evans, The Kid Stays in the Picture
[I disagree on one point. Everyone is lying. Memories lie. People lie. Often without realizing it. And mostly to themselves.]
Takeaways?
* Weirdly, he doesn't mention Al Ruddy or Ruddy's assistant at all (even though they were reportedly friends for a bit in the 1970s). (I think they had a falling out - when Ruddy left to do his own movies.) As if they didn't exist, nor does he mention any of the producers of the movies under him at Paramount. In Evans version of The Godfather production, Bergman came up with the idea, pushed for Coppola, and worked on it with Evans. (I found this odd - so looked it up and discovered that Ruddy's take on what happened is not exactly the same as everyone else's. [Also Rolling Stone Hated the Offer, which is Ruddy's take on The Godfather and was produced by Al Ruddy.]
What to Watch Does a Run-Down of Fact vs. Fiction.
Mathew Good actually kind of nails Evans in The Offer. I like Good's Evans better than the real Evans. The real Evans was a narcissist. And a sexist womanizer.
At the end of the film, I didn't like Evans that much, while I sort of liked him in The Offer. Also the film is kind of "self-congratulatory" and not in a good way. It is well-done however - with a lot of archival footage of Evans (interviews, filmed segments, and pictures). Also we get tours of his house - with no one in it. (I want that garden and pool house, that's all I want. He apparently was a tenant in the pool house for a bit because he lost everything - when he got addicted to cocaine in the late 1980s. Jack Nicholson got his house back - by flying off to Monte Carlo to beg the French Industrialist who owned it - to sell it back to him. His best friends were Nicholson (China Town), and Dustin Hoffman (Marathon Man). Both films were produced by Evans. He had a lot clout in Hollywood.
He redeemed himself and his career post-drug rehab (which he escaped from) by producing a bunch of after-school specials in the 1980s on NBC entitled "Get High on Yourself" - with lots of stars. (I don't remember these - but I was in college at that time. In college - I watched whatever folks in the dorms watched, which consisted of 1) Star Trek Next Generation, 2) Star Trek, 3)Days of Our Lives, 4) Lonesome Dove Mini-series, 5) Jeopardy (we had someone actually get on it and primed her for it. She was my lounge buddy - we would analyze television shows together). )
He lost Ali McGraw to Steve McQueen because he was too involved in his work (Actually, I think he was too self-involved, and well, Steve McQueen.) He comments on how it hurt to lose her to the biggest movie star in the world.
I'd feel sorry for Ali - except I never understood the appeal of Ali McGraw. I don't find her attractive or interesting as an actress - and I may be among the few people on the planet who could not make it through Love Story (it annoyed me, actually I think it annoyed my mother too). Mother used to make fun of the line "Love means never having to say you're sorry" - our love of soap operas has somehow instilled an allergic reaction to fake sentimentality.
Overall, not a bad movie. I'd say it was entertaining in the same manner that The Offer was, and interesting in contrast to it.
Currently watching Julia - the documentary film about Julia Child, that was produced by Ron Howard. It's a fascinating film, and the series Julia clearly took some liberties with the story - and is a fictionalized account in some respects. Since, her friend, played by Bebe Neuwurth in the series isn't mentioned at all in the documentary, and her producer, Ruth Lockwood was a white woman not a Black woman as portrayed in the series.
Child was a complicated person and one of her time, in that she did think women were to get married and take care of the home to a certain extent, and couldn't imagine anything else. But, she had a huge effect on the feminist movement - because she also felt strongly about supporting planned parenthood, and women could have careers and take care of the home.
"She is really a tomorrow person. We don't care about yesterday." And was strongly "pro-choice", and felt it was important for woman to determine their own lives. And pushed for women to be able to chefs and have careers.
Julia also had breast cancer and had her breast removed.
Julia: How can you look at me or find me attractive without my breast?
Paul: I married you for your legs not your breasts.
[Sigh, I need to find a guy like that. They say you meet your life mate when by the time you are 25? (I saw that as a reality show ad on streaming, can't remember where - where they bring back people you knew at that age and set up match making. And I thought...let's see: 1) dead (cancer), 2) married, 3) gay. I'm out of luck.)]
Julia was an incorrigible flirt. (I've never figured out how to flirt.) Julia liked men the best.
But also...she was unable to acknowledge homosexuality. She came from a world where it wasn't acknowledged or acceptable. And called homosexuals the dergatory term - homos. But when her best friend and attorney, who was gay, died of AIDS, Julia did a 180. She worked hard to help, and used her love of cooking to help the AIDS movement and support them.
Julia Child was constantly changing, and learning from her mistakes. She's wasn't rigid. And the documentary details her life from beginning to end, she died at 91, still doing cooking shows and cook books. Her husband died a good twenty years before her - and of dementia. (Reminding me of my father.)
It's hard not to adore her. She was just lovely.
The documentary does a lovely job of characterizing her life, and depicting it - through interviews and archival footage. I don't however feel it is quite fair to compare Julia to others lives, or even my own mother. We are all so different and unique in our journeys. While we can learn from others journeys, we also, I think need to realize those journeys are theirs and not our own and not meant to be.
Currently streaming on HBO Max - recommended. It's part cooking demonstration show, biography, and history. Utilizing archives, film, television footage, recreations of food preparations, interview footage, and letters.
***
Apparently I was in a documentary mood today.
My back, neck and shoulder are bothering me. Have ice and heat on them. I think I may need to do other things this weekend, and spend less time on my phone and computer.
***
Mother informed me that my niece shipped a box of her clothes and other personal items home, but somehow it didn't have enough postage on it and the British Post sent it back to her dorm. The dorm rejected it - because she'd left and wasn't there any longer, and as a result it appears to be missing.
I was furious on her behalf. Whomever rejected her package at the dorm, as opposed to taking the time to forward it to her, or contact her, deserves to lose their clothing in a moth infestation or some karmic consequence.
God, people often take the easy path, or thoughtless one, as opposed to the kind one.
I wish I could help. It's hard to love a child from a far. But alas, I do.
[Please no advice.]
In regards to the great moth infestation? They appear to have gotten through the worst of it. Apparently my brother discovered it vacuuming under his couch upstairs. They like the dark and hide. When he vacuumed under it - he disturbed them. And got a nasty surprise. He thinks they probably caught it in time - since there isn't that much damage. Niece took her clothing outside and searched through it - to determine what was salvageable. She had her camera equipment and computer stuff in luggage and got that home with her, and brought her winter clothes home in April, so the clothing that is missing is the Spring attire. It may not be that bad, also she may not have that many clothes damaged by the moths.
They got rid of one old rug. But the couches appear to be fine - they've steam cleaned them. And the moths never made it all the way downstairs to my brother's room at least. They've also re-arranged some furniture and things.
And my father is ill again - we think its another UTI, since he tested negative for COVID. He was running a fever, and not feeling well. So mother didn't see him today. He'd been slightly more lucid yesterday, but talking nonsense.
Neither mother nor I can watch or read anything about dementia at the moment. The Old Man - the Jeff Bridges/Jon Lithgow series on Hulu - Mother tried and abruptly gave up on, because it dealt with Alzheimers as a main plot point - too triggering.
***
Today was a warm day but not insufferable. I went out briefly to get veggies, fruit, and eggs. Then picked up some ice cream from Carvel. It's an old school fresh hand churned ice cream shop. Run by a Korean family.
I got a Cold Brew Coffee Ice Cream Milkshake, and a small pint of vanilla ice cream which I put in the freezer for tomorrow and possibly monday.
If anyone can figure out a cure for hot flashes and sweats, let me know.
**
Picture of Florence that my niece previously sent to me...
no subject
Date: 2022-07-02 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-02 03:20 am (UTC)I've got it on audiobooks.
She basically said that unless you can do hormone therapy - you're out of luck. (I can't do hormone replacement therapy - I asked, both the primary care doctor and gynecologist were afraid to do it, due to my own biochemical make up and the meds I'm on. I may ask again in July, though. The doctor is willing to work with me on it. Maybe find something mild. Last time I saw her - they'd abated a bit, but now I am having them every day. Before it was only around periods. Now I don't have periods, just hot flashes. It's annoying.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-02 03:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-02 05:00 am (UTC)Great photo from your niece!
no subject
Date: 2022-07-02 02:22 pm (UTC)And thanks.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 01:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-04 02:30 pm (UTC)Also, apparently he tried to do a series based on his autiobiography - it's listed as well, but not available. Hollywood seems to attract narcissistic bullies.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-02 03:14 pm (UTC)Boy that says a lot. And I'm not surprised about the excessive self-congratulation. The only thing that matches it in most entertainment discussions is excessive congratulations to other people. It often makes commentary tracks tiresome.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-02 09:30 pm (UTC)The better commentary tracks focus on the work - not the congratulations, as do the better Q&A's. The following actors do good Q&A and commentary tracks - Ben Browder, Claudia Black, James Marsters, Weirdly Nick Brendon (who is an ass otherwise), Dominic West, and Seth Green.
Whedon also did good commentary tracks - which is interesting. As did David Simon and Ed Burn on The Wire, and the writers of Farscape.
But it really is hit or miss at times. And you have to be really interested in this stuff - to find the good ones.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-02 07:03 pm (UTC)Immediately sent my mind to this :-
“Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! The very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
(Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 by William Wordworth)
I actually wrote a drabble featuring Angel & Nina; part of a series I wrote for elisi several years ago and, though it wasn't part of the story; they were stood on the bridge with Angel reminiscing, so I included the poem in the general items.
Again, beautiful.
kerk
no subject
Date: 2022-07-02 09:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-02 09:31 pm (UTC)If you ever get a chance to visit; Derry's 'Peace Bridge', while very modern, is worth one because of the views of the hills. I'm still hoping to make a visit for Foyle Pride, but my optimism on that is fading somewhat.
Actually Derry is somewhere I'd like to move to if life gave me the opportunity. Must confess; especially as I wrote a narrative poem set; per my head canon, in Siena, I'd love to have had the chance to visit some of Italy's walled cities. Think my increasing antipathy for summer heat might preclude that these days, but at least I can imagine Oz & Willow meeting again there. :-)
kerk
ps. I did miss the text immediately above the picture :-)
no subject
Date: 2022-07-02 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-04 06:07 am (UTC)Having to go through a moth infestation sounds awful but it's good that they're over the worst of it and most of their stuff was salvageable.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-04 02:32 pm (UTC)